December 28, 2016 Governor Andrew Cuomo Executive Chamber State Capitol Albany, NY 12224 Dear Governor Cuomo: On behalf of the over 130 groups who have signed below and who strongly support Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs for New York’s students, we are asking your immediate assistance to ensure these highly effective programs can be sustained and expanded. Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that are available in high school have proven highly effective in helping to provide students with essential skills they require to successfully transition to college and/or careers. In addition, CTE programs help ensure that New York will have a skilled workforce which is essential to its economy. For these reasons, the undersigned organizations of educators, businesses and other interested groups strongly support Career and Technical Education Programs (CTE) for students attending New York state public schools. To help ensure that more students have increased access to these highly successful CTE programs, we are urging you to include the following changes in your proposed 2017 Executive New York state budget:

• Increase the “aidable” salary for Boards of Cooperative Educational Services

(BOCES) Career and Technical Education (CTE) instructors; and • Increase the amount of special services aid that is provided to the Big 5 School

Districts for CTE programs. At a time when New York State is struggling to ensure that students graduate from high school and are prepared for college and careers in the 21st century, CTE programs are a proven tool in helping students achieve academic and career success. Over 90% of students who participate in CTE programs graduate high school with 60% of those graduates going on to college. Another 30% of CTE participants are employed after graduation. In addition, many CTE programs have been designed in collaboration with local businesses to ensure the programs provide students with the skills which are required by employers.

A major advantage of these CTE programs is that they exist in every region of the state as they are provided by every BOCES in New York state, all Big 5 School Districts and small city school districts.

Despite these successes, the state’s funding formula for CTE programs is outdated and underfunded. The current funding formula for BOCES CTE programs was established in 1992 and only provides a reimbursement rate of $30,000 to a school district to cover a CTE

instructor’s salary. The Board of Regents estimates the average CTE salary is now $65,000. This amount leaves a large gap between what a district gets reimbursed compared to the actual salary.

The Big 5 School Districts also receive state reimbursement for CTE pupil expenses. However, their funding levels fall far short of both student needs and program expansion goals. Current formula funding accounts for approximately 50% of a school district’s CTE expenses. Low reimbursement levels will continue to hamper efforts to expand opportunities for more students through the multiple pathways model.

Further underscoring both the value of CTE programs and the need for increased aid for CTE programs are the recently proposed regulatory changes by the NYS Board of Regents. These changes will allow students to attain a Regents diploma by successfully completing approved CTE exams in lieu of one of the Regents exams. A major issue for ensuring success, however, is having an adequate funding formula in place for CTE programs that support this most important goal.

It is for these reasons that we ask your strong consideration to increase both the aidable salary for BOCES CTE instructors and aid for CTE programs in the Big 5 School Districts as part of the 2017-18 budget. Thank you for your consideration of this most important request. Sincerely,

A. Liss & Company, Inc. A&P Aircraft Maintenance, Inc. AccuHealth Group AGC NYS, LLC Alpha Commercial Cleaning, LLC. Anderson Equipment Company Antique Automobile Club of America Duryea and also Schoharie Valley Region Antique Automobile Club of America Schoharie Valley Region Appollo Heating Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. Atlantic Floor Covering, Inc. ATI Nursing Education Bayport Flower Houses Blackstone Industrial BOCES of NY Bonded Energy Solutions Brookhaven Health Care Facility Broome-Delaware-Tioga BOCES Building Cooling Systems, Inc. Burmax

Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical Education BOCES Cattaraugus-Allegany-Erie-Wyoming BOCES Cayuga Onondaga BOCES Centerstate Corporation for Economic Opportunity Certified Health Professionals (CHP) CiTi BOCES (Center for Instruction, Technology and Innovation) Clean Energy Business Incubator Program at Stony Brook University Commercial Draperies Unlimited Commercial Driver Training Conference of Big 5 School Districts County Waste & Recycling Champlain Valley Educational Services Darco Manufacturing, Inc. Dayton T. Brown, Inc. Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego-( DCMO) BOCES Dutchess BOCES Dynamic Supplier Alignment Eastern Suffolk BOCES Economic Opportunity Council of Suffolk, Inc. Electrical Training Center, Inc. Empire Industrial Manufacturing Erie 1 BOCES Erie 2 BOCES Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES Genesee Valley Educational Partnership Giovanni Food Company Global Foundaries Goldstein Auto Group Greno Industries, Precision Machining Greater Southern Tier BOCES Hamilton Fulton Montgomery- HFM BOCES HAUN Welding Supply Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES Hillside Family of Agencies Hunter Shelters International Union of Operating Engineers Island Drafting and Technical Institute Jefferson-Lewis-Hamilton-Herkimer-Oneida BOCES Jo-Mark Installations, Inc. J.W.’s Wholesale Promotional Products King and King Architects Long Island JATC Madison-Oneida BOCES

Marriott Albany New York MEAn Technologies Mid Island Air Service, Inc. Milton CAT Monroe 1 BOCES Monroe 2 BOCES Morrisville State College Nassau BOCES New York Label and Boxworks New York State AFL-CIO New York State Association for Career and Technical Education New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) NSH Simmons New York State PTA New York State Federation of School Administrators New York State United Teachers-(NYSUT) Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES Onondaga-Cortland-Madison- (OCM) BOCES Orange Ulster BOCES Orleans Niagara BOCES Otsego Northern Catskills BOCES Pal-O-Mine Equestrian Paumanok Veterinary Hospital, P.C. Petro Home Services Plug Power Precision Assembly Technologies Precision Glass & Aluminum Incorporated Putnam Northern Westchester-(PNW) BOCES PVA Questar III BOCES RAMP Motors, Inc. Re-Nuble Rides Unlimited of Nassau - Suffolk Riverhead Free Library Rockland BOCES Ross Valv Safelite AutoGlass Saturn Industries Schoharie County Seal Schoharie County Sheriff’s Department See Port Jefferson ServPro Shine Simmons Machine Tool Corporation

SMM Advertising Specialty Silicone products, Inc. Sprung Monuments as Individual as Life Itself Southern Westchester BOCES St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES StorEn Technologies Suffolk County Department of Labor, Licensing & Consumer Affairs Suffolk Transportation Service, Inc. Sullivan County BOCES Teachers Federal Credit Union Temptu The Business Council The Children’s Community Head Start & Early Head Start The Council of School Superintendents The Patriot Organization Thermolift V-Cyle Thermal Management System Tompkins Cortland Community College Triple M Roofing Corp. Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga-(TST) BOCES United Federation of Teachers-( UFT) Ulster BOCES Ultimate Imaging, LLC Unitech Services Group Environmental Services Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex (WSWHE) BOCES Wayne Finger Lakes BOCES Western Suffolk BOCES CC: Robert Mujica Joe Conroy Jere Hochman 4845-9888-4159, v. 1

GROUPS THAT SUPPORT CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

GROUPS THAT SUPPORT CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

GROUPS THAT SUPPORT CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS